


Unified Theory

by BloomingMiracle (Luna264)



Series: Kingdom Hearts Wheelchair AU [9]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, M/M, Possibly Unrequited Love, Unrequited Crush, its free romance estate, riku is oblivious to romance, riku is the most eligable bachelor in his age group, sora has anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24598078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luna264/pseuds/BloomingMiracle
Summary: “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t feel that way about me,” Sora said.(You probably don't need the context of the rest of the AU to read this one, if you're looking at the series wordcount and shaking your head)
Relationships: Kairi/Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Naminé/Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Riku/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Riku/Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Riku/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Riku/Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas & Sora & Vanitas & Ventus & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas & Sora & Vanitas & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas & Sora & Vanitas & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas & Sora & Ventus & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas & Sora & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas & Sora & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Sora & Vanitas & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Sora & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Sora & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Sora & Xemnas (Kingdom Hearts), Sora & Xion (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Kingdom Hearts Wheelchair AU [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1469156
Comments: 32
Kudos: 41





	1. I'm rehearsing what to say

**Author's Note:**

> In which Riku is a bit of a himbo
> 
> I have two chapters left to write in this and I was gonna wait until they were done before I started posting it but damnit!! I gotta do it now. If I go too much longer like this I'm gonna end up having people over and that's the last thing we need in this house. I've got them planned out anyways its fine its fine
> 
> This first chapter is basically the set up of the premise. All of the other ones are peoples attempts of varying quality at flirting, as written by your favorite perpetually single and vaguely confused kh wheelchair au author, me. This fic is an excuse for me to indulge my weakness for Riku ships and I am not ashamed at all
> 
> anyways. IF YOU'RE READING THIS AND YOU HAVEN'T READ THE OTHER FICS HERE:  
> The premise of this AU is that Sora (and Roxas, Namine, and Xion) is in a wheelchair, so he changed the trajectory of the timeline right before Chain of Memories would have happened because fuck stairs. all his homies hate stairs. and because of that, he ended up adopting Xemnas as a new, teleporting father figure, and also a lot of other stuff was different. This story takes place some time after the main fic, which replaces CoM/Days/KH2 and resolves some plotlines from beyond those games for good measure

Xemnas watched as Sora and his age-mate siblings (a group some had begun to call “the horde”) sat around on the floor, being vaguely sociable but not entirely interacting with each other. It was a phenomenon he’d observed before, even back in the Organization days, when people would seek each other out to ignore each other. He’d never quite realized the intent behind it.

Eventually, though, someone spoke up.

Kairi propped herself up on her elbows, looking up from her book. “So, Sora, when are you gonna ask Riku out?”

The rest of the room took an immediate interest in this conversation.

“Wh--  _ Kairi _ ,” Sora whined.

“It’s a legitimate question,” she said. “You’ve liked him since probably forever, when are you gonna do something about it?”

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t feel that way about me,” Sora said.

“Sora--”

“No, let him speak,” Xion said.

“We’re best friends, don’t get me wrong,” Sora said. “I just… I just don’t think he wants to kiss me. I don’t want to risk anything by asking.”

“Asking wouldn’t--”

“The man has anxiety, Kairi,” Ventus said. “Don’t push him.”

“I’m not--”

“If Sora’s not gonna ask Riku out, can I do it?” Roxas piped up.

The room fell into silence again as all the kids considered that.

“I’m going to go make some tea,” Xemnas decided. “Does anyone want anything?”

~*~*~*~

“What makes you think Riku’s going to want to kiss you any more than Sora?” Vanitas asked.

“Hm,” Roxas said. “You’re right.”

Sora tried not to sigh in relief too obviously.

“I’m just gonna have to seduce him before I ask!”

“Oh, shit, that sounds like a solid plan,” Namine said. “I might try that, actually.”

“Do  _ all _ of you  _ also _ want to kiss Riku?” Sora asked.

“He’s tall,” Vanitas explained.

“There are  _ other _ reasons,” Kairi said. “But yeah, I think so. At least a little bit.”

“He’s tall, our age, not related to us, nice, pretty…” Ven counted reasons on his fingers. “He’s pretty much the most eligible guy in the Gardens, at least from our perspective. This shouldn’t come as a surprise.”

“There’s more to him than  _ that _ ,” Sora said.

“He’s a pretty good wielder,” Xion said.

Kairi shoved her.

“What, we were all thinking it!”

“You people are unbelievable,” Sora said. “ _ Why _ am I related to any of you?”

“I’m interested in hearing what the other options were,” Roxas said.

“Are you?” Namine raised an eyebrow.

“Well, obviously this is the superior one, but yeah, a little bit.”

“ _ Are _ you?”

“Look,” Vanitas said. “The way  _ I _ see it, Sora isn’t calling any sort of dibs, so the rest of us are free to handle the situation as we see fit.”

“Vanitas--” Sora began.

“What if  _ I’m _ calling dibs?” Kairi asked. “I’ve known Riku way longer than the rest of you, too.”

“It’s too late,” Xion said. “It’s a free for all now. We’re gonna have a contest, and Riku will be our unwitting judge.”

“Are you even  _ into _ him?” Sora asked. “Or do you just like the idea of getting one up on the rest of us?”

“He’s hot and I wanna kiss him but also I love winning,” Xion said. “It can be two things.”

“I’m gonna tell him you said that,” Namine said.

“I  _ swear _ you’re all bullying me right now,” Sora said.

“You’re not telling him  _ shit _ ,” Xion said, ignoring Sora entirely. “Then he’ll know what  _ you’re _ trying to do, too.”

“Communication is key to a healthy relationship,” Ventus said.

“You are all the worst,” Sora said.

“Hey, you  _ said _ you weren’t going to ask him,” Vanitas said. “You can’t get mad at us for wanting to.”

“He’s right, Sora,” Kairi said. “You can’t expect Riku to put his life on hold until you get it together.”

~*~*~*~

Xemnas hadn’t found any tea in his own kitchen, so he’d gone to the market to pick some up.

At the market, of course, was Riku, shopping for his own use.

“Oh, hey,” Riku said, a little awkwardly. “How are you?”

Xemnas considered that. “I’m well,” he said. “And yourself?”

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Riku said.

The two fell into silence.

Xemnas wanted to warn Riku about the situation he was about to find himself in, but he wasn’t sure how to do so without making things weird.

Well, weirder than they already were, at any rate.

He figured Riku probably had a right to know, or at the very least might appreciate the warning once the initial awkwardness of it wore off, but he wanted to minimize that awkwardness and couldn’t for the life of him figure out how.

“Nice weather,” Riku said.

“Oh, yes,” Xemnas said.

There was another pause.

“Well, bye,” Riku said, and continued on with his shopping.

“Bye,” Xemnas said.

Riku would  _ probably _ figure it out pretty quickly anyways, right? He was smart, and most of the horde wasn’t exactly subtle.

~*~*~*~

“So, obviously,” Roxas said to Xion and Namine later that evening. “We’ve got to be subtle.”

“But not  _ too _ subtle,” Namine said. “We don’t know how oblivious he is about this sort of thing, and we don’t want him to  _ miss _ it.”

“I will listen to and observe your strategies but will provide to you nothing of my own,” Xion said.

“Sora’s oblivious about this sort of thing, but he’s  _ willfully _ oblivious,” Roxas said. “He notices when it’s other people, but if he’s involved? He will  _ not _ consider the idea that someone is interested in him, least of all  _ Riku _ .”

“The thing is, is that a Destiny Islands thing, or a Sora thing?” Namine said.

“Or a ‘normal human’ thing,” Xion said. “We’re not normal humans, we wouldn’t know.”

They considered that.

“We’ll have to ask someone about that,” Roxas said. “The thing is, who do we know that’s a normal human?”

“Leon, maybe,” Xion said.

“Or Riku,” Namine said. “I could probably spin that into a flirt thing.”

“Or it’d make it weird for him,” Xion said.

“Damn,” Roxas said. “This is harder than I thought it was gonna be.”


	2. Was my past worth this future and the way it feels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If I can reach it  
> Disregard the regret  
> Hide behind the other side  
> Who knows that it'll never be enough, oh no

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter: Vanitas

Riku wasn’t entirely sure what the deal was with Vanitas that day, if he was honest. The two had come out to a more “gardeny” portion of the Garden at Vanitas’ insistence.

“So,” he said. “Worms, huh?”

“Yeah,” Vanitas said, bracing his back against a boulder and pushing it off a patch of dirt.

Riku helped him settle it in its new position. “Maybe  _ I _ should move the rocks,” he said. “I don’t want Xion to lecture me about your bones again.”

“I only have bones  _ sometimes _ ,” Vanitas complained.

“I think that might be part of the problem,” Riku said. “Like, I’m not an  _ expert _ , but--”

“Riku, I brought you out here to look for worms with me, not lecture me about my bones.”

Riku chuckled a little. “Fair enough.”

They knelt down next to the recently exposed patch of dirt, looking at it carefully.

“So, why worms?”

“Terra told me about them,” Vanitas said. “I’ve never seen any before, so I figured I’d need help identifying them.”

“Mm,” Riku said. “And what makes you think  _ I’ve _ seen worms before?”

“Well,” Vanitas said, “I figured, you had a whole childhood, right?” He looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. If Riku hadn’t known better, he’d have thought the other boy was blushing, but as far as he was aware that wasn’t a part of Vanitas’ physiology. “You’d have a better chance of, you know…”

“I grew up in a different ecosystem than Terra,” Riku said. “I don’t know what a worm is, either.”

The two of them blinked at each other for a long moment.

Then, Vanitas started to laugh.

Riku stiffened, at first, surprise overtaking anything else. He was… pretty sure he’d never heard Vanitas laugh before.

He’d half expected, he realized, Vanitas to laugh like Sora, if he laughed at all. Some part of his mind had thought that if Vanitas were going to laugh it’d be the familiar, full sound that Sora’s laugh was.

Vanitas’ laugh started and stopped, like it had to fight its way out of him. He curled forward, instead of throwing himself back.

The surprise passed quickly, and Riku started to laugh, too. It  _ was _ kind of funny, wasn’t it, that they’d both expected the other to know what they were looking for?

It was nice. It chased away some of Riku’s residual unease from their first meeting.

He had no doubt the worms were an excuse for  _ something _ , but he didn’t object to any of his best friends’ siblings trying to be friends with him, too, if that was what was going on.

“So,” he said, getting himself back under control. “Worms. What  _ do _ we know?”

Vanitas raised a hand, signalling him to wait, and got himself back under control. “Worms,” he said. “Uh… Terra said they’re wiggly and kind of pink and they live in the dirt.”

“That’s a good start,” Riku said. “Maybe we should dig?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Vanitas said, and reached into the dirt, pulling out handfuls of it.

Riku shrugged, and did the same.

There were a few bugs, hanging out in what had formerly been under the boulder. They were all fascinating, but Riku was pretty sure none of them were worms.

At one point, Vanitas picked up a bug to get a closer look at it, and it opened up its back to reveal a set of wings and fly away, taking a detour to smack directly into Vanitas’ face. A flood had manifested and hopped up to try and eat the thing, but it was quickly out of reach.

“That happened,” Riku said.

“Yeah,” Vanitas allowed, summoning a more birdlike Unversed and sending it to chase down the bug.

Riku reached out and scratched the flood under the chin, and Vanitas went back to digging.

After a bit longer of not finding any worms, and some time of not finding anything in general, Riku sat back from the spot of dirt they’d picked.

“I don’t think there’s any worms here,” he said.

Vanitas’ attention snapped to him. “You’re giving up?”

“No,” Riku said quickly. “I just… Maybe we should try a different spot. We haven’t seen  _ anything  _ in this one for a few minutes now.”

“I guess,” Vanitas allowed, and stood.

The birdlike Unversed he’d sent after the bug landed on his shoulder, and the flood nudged Riku in a standing position before weaving around his legs.

“Hey, Vanitas?” Riku said. “I think this one’s going to trip me.”

“Pick it up, then,” Vanitas said, and began to walk towards another large rock.

Riku shrugged, and picked up the flood, scratching it under its chin again as he followed Vanitas to their next location. It rolled over in his arms, making a noise that almost sounded like purring.

“You know,” he said. “I’ve always thought it was kind of strange, but I’ve never really seen  _ you _ be affectionate with your Unversed.”

“What’s weird about it?” Vanitas asked, pushing on the next boulder. “It’d almost be weirder if I did.”

Riku set the flood down and helped him. “Well, you’ve said you find them cute, too.”

“Well, that’s just an objective fact,” Vanitas said. “Some people are just wrong.”

“So why don’t you ever pet them or anything?”

They’d moved the boulder a satisfactory amount from its original spot, and sat down to dig in the dirt again.

“Well, if  _ you _ could summon, like,  _ dogs _ or something from your own fear or self loathing or whatever, it’d be kind of weird for  _ you _ to pet them, wouldn’t it?” Vanitas asked, picking up a beetle and watching it fly away.

“No,” Riku said, letting the flood climb into his lap and rubbing its belly. “They’d be cute dogs.”

“Like…” Vanitas waved vaguely, not really looking at Riku. “Like if you focused on them, you’d get some of their senses, maybe, especially if there were less of them around, it’d be weird. It’d be like petting your own head.”

Riku paused, feeling his face heat up a little, and withdrew his hand from the flood on his lap. It chirped indignantly. “Are you saying you get sensory feedback from the Unversed?”

There was a long pause. “Perhaps,” Vanitas allowed.

“Mm,” Riku said awkwardly. “Like, how much?”

“It depends,” Vanitas said. “On a lot of things, really. I used to keep a lot of them around, just so I could ignore what they were all doing. They get into all kinds of trouble, so it was easier to make a bunch and leave them somewhere than try and keep them down to manageable levels and feel the consequences when I messed up.”

“Why hasn’t this come up?” Riku asked. “I mean, I know you don’t like it when people touch you, so--”

“I  _ want  _ to like it,” Vanitas said. “It’s just… It’s a lot, you know?”

The flood on Riku’s lap butted its head against his stomach.

“With the Unversed, I don’t  _ have _ to feel it at full intensity, you know?” Vanitas sighed. “And, if I get overwhelmed, I can just…” The Unversed on his shoulder melded back into his shadow. “It’s easier.”

“Oh,” Riku said. “I… still would have liked to have known this earlier.”

“Yeah, because this is a  _ super easy _ thing to explain to people,” Vanitas muttered.

“It’s not,” Riku allowed. “But still. Sometimes things aren’t easy. That doesn’t mean we have to keep them to ourselves.”

“Says the guy who hid the fact that a whole other guy who had previously possessed him was hanging out in his heart until said other guy got stabbed out,” said Vanitas.

“I learned my lesson,” Riku said, mock-offended.

“All it took was getting stabbed,” Vanitas agreed, finally looking back at Riku and smiling capriciously.

“Yeah, not much at all,” Riku said, poking the flood in the stomach. “I’m a model of mental health and all that shit.”

Vanitas snorted.

“So, do you control them at all, or are they this snuggly on their own?”

“I think they sort of run off my subconscious,” Vanitas said, and there was  _ no _ way Riku was making a mistake this time, Vanitas was  _ definitely _ blushing. “I  _ can _ take control of them, but I usually don’t. I… I just prefer not to.”

“Fair enough,” Riku said. “Hey, what’s this?”

He pulled a pinkish, wiggling  _ thing _ out of the dirt and held it up. It was maybe a few inches long, and it would not sit still.

“I dunno,” Vanitas said. “Think it’s a worm?”

“Beats me,” Riku said. “Maybe we should ask Terra.”

“We’ll have to show it to him, to know we’re all talking about the same thing, of course,” Vanitas said.

Riku laughed. “Let me guess,” he said. “Terra doesn’t like worms.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's technically Sunday and I'm an impatient bastard so here we go
> 
> I think Vanitas' attempt is one of the ones that gets the closest, honestly. Nothing gayer than digging in the dirt for worms and talking about your feelings or whatever
> 
> I promise the Vanitas Unversed lore here did not come out of nowhere I've had it bouncing around in my skull like a screensaver since forever and I implied it a little back in W&T (even if it was a blink and you'll miss it implication because. subtlety has never been my forte. im trying but a lot of times stuffs either there or its not lol)
> 
> This is gonna be about the structure of the rest of the chapters in this fic. Riku's perspective as he Absolutely Does Not pick up on the fact that all these people are flirting with him, in their own ways. And ending gags, on most of them, because I'm a sucker for ending gags and know only hedonism and joint pain


	3. Could be kind of gorey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If I were a zombie  
> I’d never eat your brain  
> I’d just want your heart  
> Yeah, I’d want your heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter: Roxas

Riku was mostly able to ignore the shouting in the background, as he toyed with the settings on his new gummyphone and hummed to himself in his room at the castle. It was getting more difficult, though; he was pretty sure it was getting closer.

He couldn’t  _ quite _ tell who was yelling. He was pretty sure it was Isa, since Saix didn’t yell much, but he wouldn’t have made a bet, if anyone had asked him.

There was a quick knocking at his door. After a few moments, it came again.

He sighed, setting his phone down on the table beside his bed, and got his door.

Roxas nearly bowled him over coming inside.

Riku righted himself, and sighed. “Roxas, you’re supposed to ask before-- what’s in your mouth?”

Roxas looked up at him, blinking, and the small creature in his mouth twitched. Some blood dribbled down the Nobody boy’s chin.

“Is that  _ alive _ ?” Riku asked.

Slowly, Roxas nodded.

“Here, give me that.” Riku knelt as little as he could manage while still reaching Roxas’ face, and gently reached out his hands. Roxas deposited the creature into them and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. The blood had definitely come from the creature, where his teeth had broken its skin.

Carefully, Riku shifted it to be in his offhand, and cast a cure spell on it.

Roxas looked at him, almost expectantly.

“Where did you get this?” Riku asked.

“Caught it,” Roxas said.

“ _ Why _ ?”

Roxas hesitated. “Well,” he muttered. “Xepherem catches them for Demyx all the time, so I thought--”

Riku probably would have put his head in his hand, if the creature hadn’t started trying to escape. He didn’t want it holing up anywhere in his room. He’d have to release it outside soon. “You… thought I’d appreciate it,” Riku finished, managing to shift his grip to keep the animal against his chest.

“Yeah.” Roxas shifted uneasily in his chair.

“Well…” Riku looked at the blood, and decided to pick his next words very carefully. “I appreciate the  _ thought, _ but I’m afraid I don’t exactly see the appeal of being brought injured, bloody animals.”

“Oh,” Roxas said. After a moment, a thought seemed to strike him. “What  _ would _ you want to be brought, then?”

“ _ Not _ this,” Riku said. “Uh, why do you ask?”

“... No reason,” Roxas said.

“Well,” Riku said. “I… I’d ask for hobby supplies, but I haven’t exactly had many hobbies recently. Um, really, I guess, anything but this, is a good place to start, if you want to start bringing people presents.”

“Oh,” Roxas said. Riku didn’t think he sounded like he really understood, but  _ he _ didn’t understand why some of the Nobodies had started going after the local wildlife. He’d seen Dawn trying to catch a different creature a few days before, but it hadn’t occurred to him that she might have had bloody intent.

“Yeah, uh… hey, why was it in your mouth?” Riku asked, regretting it immediately.

“How else was I gonna hold it?” Roxas asked.

“Right, silly me. I’m gonna… go put this back outside.” He started to leave.

“Can I come?” Roxas asked.

“I… guess I can’t really stop you,” Riku said. “Do you want to hang out after this, then?”

“Yeah,” Roxas said, following him. “Can I… get some more gift advice?”

“I guess,” Riku said. “Who were you thinking of getting gifts for?”

“Namine was right,” Roxas muttered, quiet enough that Riku didn’t think he’d actually been supposed to hear it. At a more normal tone, he said “ uh… I dunno, just… generally, I guess.”

“Alright,” Riku said slowly. “Well… like I said, most people, or at least most human people, do not want bloody animals. Or corpses. I should specify that. Um. Commonly appreciated gifts are items related to personal interests, things that are shiny, or flowers.”

“Okay,” Roxas said. “So, plant corpses are okay, but not animal corpses.”

“ _ Please _ do not call them plant corpses,” Riku said. “I will  _ literally _ pay you munny not to call them that again.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Roxas said, in the tone of voice of someone who was probably going to continue to call them plant corpses when out of earshot.

They arrived outside, and Riku set the creature down, watching as it scampered away.

“You still have blood on your chin, by the way,” he said.

“Yeah, I’ll have to clean up later,” Roxas agreed.

RIku sighed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a handkerchief. “Come here,” he said, kneeling and reaching for the other boy’s face again. “I’ll wipe it off for you.”

“Y-You don’t have to do that,” Roxas said.

Riku stopped before actually touching him. He could feel the heat radiating off of Roxas’ face. “Alright,” he said, handing the kerchief to Roxas and standing back up. “Better now than later, though, if I’m honest with you.”

“Honest is good,” Roxas said.

They stayed there for a while, unsure of what to do next.

Eventually, Riku saw Roxas’ eyes drifting to a bird that had landed on a nearby tree. “Hey,” he said. “You want to go inside and get lunch?”

Roxas perked up. “Sounds great!”

They went to the dining area, and Riku started digging through the available ingredients to see what he could make that did not include any meat whatsoever.

Eventually, he got hungry enough that he settled on mac and cheese. Roxas agreed to it, although Riku was about half sure Roxas would have agreed to anything he’d suggested, to try and recover from the awkwardness that was the failed gift.

They were quietly companionable while the pasta boiled. Except for the too fresh image of Roxas with a bloody animal in his mouth, Riku thought it was pretty nice, overall.

Eventually, they sat down to eat.

“So if it  _ wasn’t _ injured--” Roxas began.

“ _ Probably _ still do not gift people animals by surprise,” Riku said.

“Damn,” Roxas said. “There are a lot of gift rules, huh?”

“Mostly, it comes down to what the person you’re trying to get a gift for likes,” Riku said. “I take it today was a practice round?”

“Hm?” Roxas blinked at him.

“You mentioned that you picked the, uh--” Riku gestured vaguely with his spoon for a few moments. “-- because Xepherem gets them for Demyx?”

“Yeah,” Roxas said.

“Those two are, well,  _ involved, _ so I… I guess it’s a little presumptuous to assume you’re trying to figure out romantic gifts, actually, huh?”

“I mean, maybe,” Roxas said. “But it’s not like you’re  _ wrong _ .”

“So, today was some kind of practice, right?” Riku gestured again. “Makes sense to practice, really.”

“Uh…” Roxas said.

“I might be able to give better advice if I knew who you were trying to seduce, though,” he finished his thought. “Personalized gifts  _ are _ better, really.”

Roxas looked at him for a long moment, bewilderment giving way to suspicion for a few seconds before coming back with reinforcements.

“Roxas?”

“You know what?” Roxas said. “I don’t think gift giving is gonna work. I need something a little less subtle.”

“Gift giving is about as in your face as it gets, I think,” Riku said.

“Fuck,” Roxas said.

“What makes you think you should change your approach?” Riku took a bite of macaroni.

Roxas leaned forward on the table, half glaring at him. “One might call it a hunch,” he said, “that the target of my affections would also happen to be perhaps the densest man in the universe.”

“Yozora?” Riku asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a /huge/ sucker for RikuRoku (like, more than I am for most Riku ships) but Roxas is...... bad at this. Things will go better when I get around to posting my dedicated RikuRoku AU afasdfasdf tempted to rename it first bc I forgot why I gave it the working name it has but not entirely sure to what
> 
> I like to think of the Nobodies as just a /smidge/ feral? Namine was tempered a bit just from being with Riku and Mickey from so early on but all the others were either almost completely by themselves or only around other Nobodies for their formative Nobody years. It's not easy to notice in the absence of certain stimuli, but with a whole ecosystem and a lot of downtime to play with they're here with their Hell Potential lol
> 
> Also by this point Riku has accepted that he's brothers with Yozora so he's gonna dunk on him. It's like how I send my sister pictures of Kermit the Frog about the design of one of the evolutions in her BNHA/Digimon AU she's confining to discord servers for underdevelopment crimes until further notice. She intentionally made the face look like Kermit so it's okay for me to make fun of the resemblance. I'm gonna go tag her in a picture of Kermit on discord now


	4. Left to rust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And time goes quicker  
> Between the two of us  
> But oh, my love, don’t forsake me  
> Take what the water gave me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter: Xion

“Riku, I need some advice,” Xion said.

“Yeah?” He looked up from comparing two apples at a market stall.

“Yeah,” she said, and held a music book up to him. “Hypothetically speaking, if you were to get serenaded, which of these songs would you want it to be?”

“Hm,” Riku said. “I’ll have to check the book. Can I finish buying fruit first?”

She nodded, and he went back to shopping.

Eventually, he made his selection and led Xion to a bench where he could sit down. “Okay, let me see.”

“Here.”

He flipped through the book. “Huh,” he said. “I don’t know any of these.”

“So…”

“I’m afraid I can’t help,” Riku said. “Where did you get this?”

“I got it from Demyx,” she said. “I think he might have borrowed it from Dyme, but I’m not sure.”

“Fair enough,” Riku said.

“Do you think you could help me find another one?” Xion asked. “Maybe one that’s a bit more… modern.”

“Yeah, I can try,” he said. “Let me just put this stuff away, and we can look around. Maybe start with the castle library?”

“Alright!” Xion said. “Meet you there!”

“Yeah!”

She wheeled off, and he went to put his shopping away. When he went to the library, he found her digging through the catalog.

“Nothing yet?”

She shrugged. “I found the music section, but I’m starting to think there’s no way to tell how old any of the books are.”

“That’d make things a bit difficult,” Riku admitted. “The books themselves might help, but…”

“They’re music books,” Xion said. “I’m not sure how many events are gonna be in them for context clues, or how many things that happened that we’ll recognize.”

“Yeah,” Riku said. “Neither of us really has a comprehensive history education for this world.”

“You have  _ any _ history education for this world?”

“No.” Riku picked up one of the pages Xion had discarded, trying to get a feel for the catalog system. He hadn’t really checked the library out before, with everything else happening and everyone’s desperate attempts to settle into the world, the library previously owned by a man with a known propensity for human experimentation had not been one of his top priorities. “Ask me anything you want to know about the Destiny Islands, though. Sora and Kairi were always better students than I was, but I should be able to answer your questions.”

“Are you saying I’m gonna have simple questions?” Xion asked.

“I’m saying you don’t have the context to ask specific questions about a place you’ve never been to that has barely been discussed with you,” Riku said. “We’d probably ask similar questions about, say, Tolmekia.”

She looked like she wanted to prove him wrong, but eventually she seemed to concede to herself that he had a point. “Let’s go see the books,” she said.

They went to the music section. It was a lot smaller than a lot of the other sections, which Riku supposed made it more likely they’d find what they were looking for if it was actually  _ there, _ while lessening the chances of it, well, actually being there.

The music books were… well cared for, but definitely old, and mostly political.

“Why isn’t there anything  _ new _ here?”

“Ansem was a scientist,” Riku said, still feeling weird about the guy’s name, “and a historian to a lesser extent, I guess. I guess this is what he wanted to have at hand.”

“I guess,” Xion said. “It just sucks that there isn’t anything  _ helpful  _ here.”

“We haven’t gone through the  _ whole _ section yet,” Riku said. “There  _ might _ be something. Do you want to keep looking?”

“Might as well,” Xion said.

They kept looking for a while longer. Xion slid out of her chair to check some of the lower shelves, and she and Riku ended up sitting back to back while they flipped through books.

“Hey, check this out,” she said eventually, passing him a book and pulling herself up to peer over his shoulder.

It was a nice book, he thought, bound in a material he didn’t quite recognize and without a title.

He flipped through it, quickly. Four songs. None of them struck him as particularly romantic, but something about it seemed… off to him. Out of place in a larger way than he could place.

“Did you see anything about a book without a title in the catalog?” He asked.

“No.” She pulled herself a bit more forward, getting a closer look at the book and slotting her head into the space made by his neck and shoulder.

“Strange.” Riku turned the pages slower, taking time to look at the words and notes and feeling the strangest sense of repetition. But, like,  _ backwards  _ repetition, somehow. “Hey, Xion, do you want to put this book back and pretend it doesn’t exist?”

“Sounds good,” Xion said, and didn’t move.

“Xion?”

“Hm?”

“Are… you gonna put the book back?”

“... Comfy.” She adjusted her grip, and snuggled more into his shoulder.

He blinked. “How?”

“Warm.”

“If you were cold, you should have said something earlier,” he said. “You have a coat in your chair, don’t you?”

“Mm,” she said. “Should I stop?”

“I’m just saying, there are more efficient ways to keep warm than my shoulder,” he said.

She sighed, and withdrew, moving across to her chair and pulling her coat out from the pocket. “How many books have we got left?”

“Not many,” Riku said. “This might be a bust.”

“We’re… gonna have to put all these back, huh.”

“We live in this building, so yes.”

“Fuck.”

He snorted.

“Hey,” Xion laughed, holding back a grin of her own. “How could you mock my suffering? How  _ dare _ you?”

“I am a cruel and unjust man,” Riku said.

“Truly,” Xion deadpanned, and flopped over dramatically, sprawling out across the floor like a corpse from a picture book. “How could such unkindness exist in this reality?”

“I guess you’re right,” he said, scooting over closer to her. “It’s a little unrealistic.”

“Riku?” She sounded a little bit more serious, suddenly. “You’re not mad I interrupted your shopping for this, right?”

“Huh?” He shook his head. “No, I’m not mad. You’re my friend. I like spending time with you.”

Xion smiled. “That’s good,” she said.

“Xion, I…” Riku considered what he was trying to say for a moment. “Things have been weird, since  _ before _ I met you. They’re still weird, now, if I’m honest. But I’m glad I know you. I’m glad I know most of the rest of the people here, too. As rough as things got, I don’t think I’d trade any of it.”

“I think that’s probably the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” Xion said.

“Really?” Riku wasn’t really sure what to think of that. “Someone’d better have a talk with your family about appreciating each other, then.”

“We appreciate each other,” Xion protested. “We just don’t get sappy like that.”

Riku laughed. “Fair enough.”

It was about at that Dyme poked his head around one of the shelves. “Hey,” he said. “I think someone accidentally shelved one of my personal books that I own, and-- why is this entire section on the floor?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Xion asked Demyx for romance advice. His answer ended up falling through, but things seem to have worked out a little, anyways.
> 
> All these kids have had. a hell of a time. none of this should have been their responsibility, and yet. Riku knows that and he /feels/ it, like, really hard sometimes, but at this point he'd probably slap anyone who suggested trying to change his timeline. he's trying to be at peace with it all, and he loves his friends.


	5. Stardust To Remember You By

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you'll be my boat  
> I'll be your sea  
> A depth of pure blue just to probe curiosity  
> Ebbing and flowing  
> And pushed by a breeze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter: Ventus

“You gonna be there all afternoon?” Riku looked over his shoulder at where Ventus had buried his face into his back.

He’d hoped one of the more recently cleared and out of the rooms would net him some privacy, but he supposed it was fine as long as he could read peacefully.

“Too much to focus on,” Ventus muttered. “Can’t look at any of it.”

“Mm,” Riku said. “Anything I can help with?”

He felt Ventus shake his head, and went back to his book. Ventus was better than some of the others at asking for help when he needed it. It was probably fine.

After a long moment, Ven sighed in apparent relief.

Ah. Noise, then. Fair enough.

They stayed like that for a while.

As Riku came to the end of a chapter, he heard whistling from somewhere in the hall. It sounded nice enough to him, but Ventus tensed, curling a bit more in on himself and grabbing some of the loose fabric of Riku’s shirt.

“That bad?” Riku murmured.

Ventus nodded again.

“I’m gonna get up and close the door, okay?”

“Mmf.” Ventus let go and drew back a bit, but he didn’t really uncurl.

Riku went and closed the door quietly before returning to where he’d been sitting. He had an approximate idea of what to do; he’d seen his dad and ren have similar noise issues at times, and he’d seen his mom comfort them.

He left himself open and stayed quiet as he went back to his book.

After a few minutes, he felt Ven slot in under his arm, and he held his book lower in case the other boy wanted to read it with him.

Time continued to stretch on, silently.

“I don’t get it,” Ventus muttered after a while.

“Mm?” Riku proffered cautiously.

“I never used to have problems with noise,” Ventus said. “I was loud and boisterous and that. I still am, mostly, I think. I just… What happened to me? What broke?”

“Dunno,” Riku said. “Have you talked to Merlin about it?”

“No.” Ventus sighed. “I guess I should, since he’s the only person around licensed to practice therapy or whatever, but…”

“He’s a nice enough old man,” Riku said.

“Yeah, that’s kind of the problem, I think,” Ventus said. “Luxu was a  _ nice enough _ old man, except for the part where he was trying to break the universe. Yen Sid’s a  _ nice enough _ old man, except when he’s interacting with Nobodies. Xehanort was a  _ nice enough _ old man, to Terra when he was manipulating him to be more possessable. Eraqus was a  _ nice enough _ old man, until he tried to kill me for, yknow, the χ-blade thing.”

“We have  _ got _ to find another therapist we can talk to who won’t think we’re delusional,” Riku said. “Is that the issue Sora’s been having, too?”

“You’re the first person I’m talking to about this,” Ventus admitted. “I don’t know, maybe? Why would he talk to me about it instead of you?”

“Because you lived in his heart for a decade, and are his brother?”

“You’re his best friend,” Ventus said. “I don’t think you quite understand how important you are.”

“Mm,” Riku said. “Did you finish your sentence?”

“Yes.” Ventus settled a bit more. “You’re very important. To Sora, and to the rest of us, too. It’s hard to put into words.”

“It… sounds like you’re feeling better,” Riku suggested.

“Yeah,” Ventus said. “A bit. Helps that it’s just one thing going on right now.”

Riku smirked. “Yeah, you're complaining.”

“Hm,” Ventus said. “Should I stop? I know you were reading before…”

“It’s fine,” Riku assured him. “I-- You’ve got a lot of pressure on you to smile, huh?”

“Nothing’s trying to ruin the universe.” Ventus looked up, past Riku and at nothing at all. “Nobody’s trying to kill me or anyone I care about. Everything’s… nice. I should be happy.”

“It’s weird,” Riku agreed. “It’s been almost a year, now, and I still can’t relax.”

“See, you get it.”

“I think the others would, too,” Riku said. “We’re all… waiting. I don’t even know what for anymore.”

Ventus twisted, burying his face in Riku’s stomach. “I want to learn to relax again. I think I forgot when I lost everything else.”

Riku hesitated a moment, before putting a hand on Ventus’ head. “Yeah,” he said. “That tracks.”

They were quiet again after that, but Riku didn’t particularly feel like going back to his book.

Instead, he tried to think of anyone else they knew who  _ could _ be a therapist, theoretically. He came up empty, but then again, he wouldn’t have expected it from Merlin, either.

Ventus started to hum. It was quiet, and Riku wasn’t entirely sure he was even aware he was doing it.

“What song is that?”

Ventus stopped, and considered for a moment. “Dunno,” he said. “Don’t remember.”

“It’s nice,” Riku said.

“I’d keep humming it, but I can’t remember how it goes now.”

“Damn.”

“Do  _ you _ remember what I was humming?”

“Hm,” Riku considered that, and hummed a few notes.

Ventus hummed them again, a few times, before continuing a few notes further. “It sounds nice,” he said. “I wonder how I knew it.”

“It must have been important, right?” Riku suggested.

“Could’ve been a commercial jingle for all I know,” Ventus said. Then he stopped, considering something. “This  _ whole _ conversation has been about me. That’s not right.”

“You’ve got a lot on your mind,” Riku said.

“Yeah, but-- Well, these sorts of things need to be balanced.” Ventus sat up. “Tell me about you.”

“Uh, alright,” Riku said. “Uhh… shit, where do I start?”

“How you got so tall?” Ventus suggested.

“Well,” Riku said. “People from outside the Destiny Islands seem taller anyways, but I guess I hit my growth spurt early after being possessed.”

“I thought you  _ were _ from the Destiny Islands.”

“I mean, I grew up there,” Riku said. “Long as I can remember. No idea where I was born, though.”

“Oh?” Ventus looked at him curiously. “If you don’t mind me asking…”

“My dad was walking home one day when he saw a tall guy he didn’t recognize with a baby,” Riku said. “Guy asks if he wants a baby, Dad says he has to check, goes to ask Mom and Ren if  _ they _ want a baby, and all three of them agree a baby sounds pretty alright, so they accept. Guy hands them the baby, who is me, says I have a godfather somewhere, and leaves.”

“What the  _ fuck, _ dude,” Ventus said.

“I was a gift,” Riku said wryly.

“This is so weird,” Ventus said. “Did they ever see the guy again?”

“Nope.”

“I wonder why,” Ventus said.

“Well, I don’t think he lived on the islands,” Riku said. “So he probably went home.”

“So this guy,” Ventus said, “just… acquired this baby, somehow, and decided that the best thing to do with a baby was…”

“Pass it off to the first person he saw on some isolated archipelago.” Riku nodded. “When I was younger, I wondered why, but I don’t really care anymore.”

“When was the last time you went home?”

Riku froze. “Too long,” he said. “I should… visit, sometime. Shit, will my parents even  _ recognize _ me? I--”

“You’re tall and you got a haircut, but I think you’re still recognizable.”

“Ven, I was emo.”

“You’re still kind of emo.”

“You take that back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ventus has trauma now. That's the long and short of his newfound sensory issues. Trauma does that to a man. Ven's trying to get Sora into therapy mostly because Sora's only voiced complaints have been "other people need it more" but Merlin is the only valid old man in the Kingdom Hearts franchise with more than 5 lines of dialogue and Ven doesn't have that meta knowledge so he's. attending therapy pretty sparingly himself
> 
> I've joked a few times with my sister about where Ven's memories might have gone, but I think there's a solid chance that most of them are still in there, just... disconnected. Like Soras KH1 memories in COM. Vanitas might have some tho
> 
> A bit of elaboration on the whole 'Riku is adopted' thing as well. /I/ have more information on this, but Riku does not. His parents figured they'd save... certain details about it until he was an adult, and, well... yeah. I'll leave it up to y'all to guess what those are, for now. For Now


	6. No spoilers, please

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby, take a chance  
> 'Cause I want this to be something  
> Straight out of a Hollywood movie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter: Namine

“Let’s go do something  _ fun _ ,” Namine said, starting to roll towards the hangar. “Come on, it’ll be good for us.”

“What did you have in mind?” Riku followed her.

“We should go somewhere with snow.” She looked back at him and grinned. “Snow’s fun, right?”

“It’s still a novelty,” Riku allowed.

The two of them packed into a gummy ship (safer travel) with a picnic for later and were off, flying through space towards the closest snow on the nav.

It was nice to see her so excited, Riku thought. He wasn’t sure she’d been this  _ excited _ about anything since they’d met.

The place she’d selected was in a night phase when they arrived, and there weren’t that many artificial lights.

Namine shivered as Riku helped her out of the ship. “I should have brought something warmer,” she laughed. She’d only really added a sweater and gloves, on top of her usual overalls.

It was still better than he’d thought to do. “Yeah, me too,” he said, rubbing his arms. “Hey, how come you don’t normally wear gloves? The others do.”

“Don’t need them with the legs,” Namine rapped her wheels with her fist. “I’d use them here, but I’d have to worry about slipping. This snow’s too fresh and powdery.”

“Egh,” Riku stuck his tongue out.

They wandered around, for a bit, throwing snowballs at each other and laughing at the cold, until they ran into a small building.

“Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post,” Riku said. “What do you think? Sounds interesting?”

“You’re gonna have to help me with the stairs,” she said. “I’d bump my head trying to ‘spider’ up them, even without considering, well…”

“Powder,” Riku said. “Right, come on.” He grabbed the backrest of her chair and pulled her backwards up the stairs.

“Maybe I should have picked somewhere with accessibility guidelines,” she said.

“Well, we’ll keep that in mind for next time,” Riku said.

Namine brightened, a little. “Yeah, I guess we will.”

They were delighted to find that, because of the sauna that was apparently in the back of the trading post, the building was very warm. Namine even took off her sweater while they were inside.

They ended up buying some warmer clothes (an extra coat for Namine and a cloak for Riku) and spending some time talking to the shopkeeper (Wandering Oaken himself). A storm-- the second wave of a prior one, apparently-- started picking up while they were inside, so they stayed inside a bit longer, waiting for it to calm back down.

Eventually, it did, and as they prepared to leave, a young woman who had  _ definitely _ fallen in a river entered, picking up what was pretty much the last of the cold weather clothes in stock and going to the counter.

Riku and Namine politely moved out of the way.

She laughed, nervously. “I don’t suppose another young woman-- the queen perhaps? I don’t know-- might have come through here?”

“Only ones crazy enough to be out right now are you three, dear,” Oaken said, gesturing to her, Riku, and Namine.

“Hey,” Namine said.

The door opened, revealing a man who had absolutely been out in the storm the whole time.

“You  _ four _ ,” Oaken corrected. “Hello! Big summer blowout.”

Riku and Namine watched in silent unison as the new man collected a few things from the store and went to buy them. They continued watching as he was forced to put most of it back for budgetary concerns and left, and then as the woman bought all the things, went to a changing room to get in her new clothes, and went outside, presumably to catch up to the man.

“Well,” Riku said. “I think if we stay here much longer it’ll count as loitering.”

“Loitering is made up,” Namine said.

Riku considered that, shrugged, and nodded. “We’ve also done everything there is to do here.”

It was Namine’s turn to shrug and nod, and the two said their goodbyes to Oaken, put on their winter gear, and went outside.

“This snow is up to my head,” Namine said.

“On the plus side, I think there’s too much of it for you to slip easily,” Riku said.

“Oh, ye of little faith,” Namine laughed, but she still activated the legs of her chair, so Riku figured that the chance of falling was smaller than the chance of frostbite on the face.

They ended up getting hungry while looking for a place to eat, and eating all their food while searching. Riku didn’t notice until Namine pointed it out, and the two of them had a pretty good laugh about it.

The sun was beginning to rise when they ran into the other man from the trading post. He was with a reindeer, which was pretty neat.

“Hi again,” Riku said. “How’s things?”

_ “Jævla, edderkopper er rundt allerede nå,” _ the man muttered. “Uh, you know, could be better. Just delivered the princess to her true love so he can kiss her frozen heart better, all that. How are you?”

“We’re probably gonna head home soon,” Riku said. “I mean, we’ve been out here for a while. Frozen heart, huh? Sounds rough.”

“Glad there’s a solution, though,” Namine said.

“Yeah,” the man said, patting the reindeer. “I just wish I didn’t have such a bad feeling about it.”

“You should trust your gut,” Riku said. “Do you want to go back and check on her?”

“A little, but…”

“My brother trusted his gut and avoided what would have been amnesia and a year-long coma,” Namine said. “Plus, he got a new, teleporting father figure. And that was just  _ one _ time.”

The man considered that. “You two… run on different rules than I do, huh?”

“She does,” Riku said. “I’m probably more similar to you than I am to her, we just live in the same place, because I’ve been friends with two of her siblings since… basically forever.”

“Yeah, I get that,” the man said. “You’re right, though. I  _ should _ go back. She knew that guy for  _ one _ day, actually.”

“Oh she’s gonna need someone she’s known for longer than  _ that _ ,” Namine and Riku agreed.

“Can you two help me travel faster than a reindeer, or is Sven getting me back there?”

“Sven is getting you back there,” Riku said.

“Right,” the man said. “Well, thanks for the advice.”

“It was nice talking to you!” Namine said.

“Have fun storming the castle!”

They watched him ride off, towards a castle and the frozen fjord it sat upon.

“You know,” Riku said. “It just hit me, right? That guy Oaken said it was  _ summer _ .”

“I’d hate to see the winters around here, then,” Namine said.

“If this is what passes for summer around here, how do these people have anything to eat?”

“Maybe they trade ice to people farther south.”

Riku considered that. “I feel like the people farther south would need a hell of a lot of ice, in that case.”

“Well, they’d certainly be able to get it,” Namine pointed out, gesturing around them. “That, or this is magic snow that isn’t supposed to be here.”

“Yeah, it’s about a 50/50, I guess,” Riku said. “Hey do you want to stop by the Evening Sea on the way home? We can say hi to Brain and them and get some ice cream.”

“Oh, ice cream’s sounding pretty good right now, yeah,” Namine said. “And it’ll be nice to say hi. They don’t visit enough.”

“Alright,” Riku said. “Now we just have to remember where we parked the gummy ship.”

“Riku!”

“Joking! Come on, it’s this way.”

As they went, the snow began to float back into the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kristoff's line of "Jævla, edderkopper er rundt allerede" means something about like "damn, spiders are already around" in reference to Namine's chair. I know Anderson was Danish but I know, like, /just/ enough Norwegian to know when Google Translate is sounding weird in it and I'm pretty sure they used Norway as more of a base for the movie anyways
> 
> I had a bit of trouble deciding what Namine was going to try and do with Riku. My sister suggested they go shopping together but I couldn't think of anything to actually do with it lol. So they interrupted Frozen instead. Am now tempted to have someone interrupt Frozen 2 but that probably wouldn't work very well
> 
> We've also got a few fun facts about Namine's spider chair!! Or, well, a few clarifications, ig, but that's not as fun to say. Namine's chair makes her significantly taller, and when she's got her legs going she's usually the tallest person in the room. This is good (or at least neutral) some of the time, but if she's trying to get through a door that wasn't designed for people to be 9 feet tall or smth it can be a bit of an issue. The legs also add a decent amount of width, as protection against slippage, but in certain terrain/situations it's better to use the wheels. She uses the legs when she can get away with them bc she likes to be tall tho (and she's got a few sets of gloves just in case, even if she doesn't use them regularly). The legs are better for uneven terrain as long as it's not, like, slippery. Slippery terrain is bad in general, but especially if you are 9 feet tall because of your big ass spider chair.
> 
> I don't think Riku's method of getting Namine up the stairs here is the best way. Probably don't actually do that. Probably keep the chair facing forward. Namine's fine tho she's a Nobody, theoretically


	7. You can always be found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Settle down, it'll all be clear  
> Don't pay no mind to the demons  
> They fill you with fear

“We should go back to the islands sometime,” Kairi said, pulling herself up to sit on a half wall. “For a visit.”

“Yeah, I was thinking about that,” Riku agreed, leaning against it next to her. “How are we going to explain everything to our parents, though?”

“Not  _ everything _ ,” Kairi said, almost horrified. “Are you kidding? ‘Yeah, and then there’s Xion, she’s a clone of probably  _ three _ people at the same time’. It’d be too much.”

Riku snorted. “No kidding. We  _ are _ going to have to explain how we both ended up with more siblings, though.”

“ _ You’re _ going to have to explain,” Kairi teased, poking ihm between his eyes. “ _ I _ can just say ‘turns out I have more’.”

“I mean, I could  _ also _ say that, technically,” Riku said. “My parents’d be thrilled.”

“Until they found out your brothers already have dads.”

“They’ll be tripping over each other to trade parenting advice.”

Kairi laughed. “Oh, man, what would parenting advice from Marluxia and Luxord even  _ sound _ like?”

“Uh,” Riku said, considering. “Something like ‘don’t die’ or ‘do magic tricks’, I think.”

He had to catch Kairi to keep her from doubling over with laughter.

“Sheesh, I didn’t think I was  _ that _ much of a comedian.”

Kairi took a few more moments to recompose herself and stand up straight again. “You caught me off guard,” she said.

“Still, though.”

“Anyways.” She clapped her hands together. “Vacation plans. Whose parents should we check in on first?”

“I’d say yours,” Riku said. “I’m pretty sure mine were always half expecting me to go on a weird magic quest eventually.”

“Mm,” Kairi said. “Mine never said anything, but I kinda get the feeling they thought the same of me.”

“Hm?”

“You know, little girl shows up out of nowhere after a meteor shower?” She shrugged. “I don’t know. At the very least,  _ I _ was always sort of expecting it.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“I know, but…”

They were quiet for a little while.

“So,” Kairi said. “How much  _ are _ we telling our parents? They’re going to want to know what happened, at least.”

“Hm,” Riku said. “I suppose ‘we were directly involved in saving the universe multiple times’ might be a bit much for them.”

“Let’s see…” Kairi tapped her chin. “We made some friends, met some more relatives, and we didn’t come back for so long because…”

“Some of our friends had their home destroyed by a disaster and we stayed to help them clean up?” Riku suggested.

“I like it,” Kairi said. “Accurate enough, but not, like,  _ super _ concerning. We can also use that as a reason we’re not coming home to stay just yet. The restoration isn’t done.”

“They  _ might _ insist on coming along to help, though,” Riku said.

“In which case, we tearfully remind them of their responsibilities on the Islands and promise to come visit with various siblings in the near future,” Kairi said. “This might just work.”

“It feels too vague, though,” Riku said. “Like… We’re  _ going  _ to have to get into the specifics of  _ some _ of these people.”

“Riku,” Kairi said. “I have 12 siblings now, plus me. I’m pretty sure I’m off the hook on that front.”

“ _ Or _ you have to explain  _ all eleven  _ of the new ones,” Riku said. “Plus, your new cousins, uncles, and grandmother. Some of those backstories are going to be concerning. Some of those people were raised in a cult. Tsuyu’s going to freak out.”

“Especially once she finds out pretty much everyone from the cult is still hanging around,” Kairi sighed. “ _ That’s _ a conversation I don’t want to have.”

“How do we explain  _ any _ of the Nobodies without getting into Organization XIII? Or the whole Nobody concept, in general.”

“‘Marluxia lost his family to a sudoku binge but then he got more relatives back’.”

“That’s a  _ horrible _ explanation.”

“I don’t hear you having any better ideas.” Kairi crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue at him.

“Literally any explanation would be better than that.”

“Even the cult one?”

Riku paused. “ _ Almost _ any explanation would be better than that,” he amended.

“Mm,” Kairi conceded. “Maybe we don’t have to explain everyone’s backstories.”

“My parents  _ will  _ want to know who’s raising my brothers,” Riku said.

“We can tell them Luxord’s backstory,” Kairi said. “Dude infiltrated a cult to stop the apocalypse, they’ll like that.”

“Hm,” Riku said. “Yeah, probably.”

“Maybe we should just talk about what  _ we’ve _ been up to, though,” Kairi said. “I feel like keeping things small will make things easier.”

“‘So it all started when an evil fairy decided to use my love for my friends for evil purposes,’” Riku began.

“Maybe we should… skip that part,” Kairi said. “Uh. Shit, is this why we haven’t been home? Because all of this--” she gestured vaguely-- “is so hard to explain?”

“It  _ is _ a whole lot,” Riku said. “I-- Damn, how am I going to explain the King?”

“I dunno.” She scooted closer to him. “It’s… it’s been an eventful couple of years, huh?”

“Yeah.” Riku leaned back a bit more, looking up at the sky. “I think… maybe seeing my parents will convince me that it’s over? That we’re safe, and I can relax now? Is that weird?”

“I think that’s what parents are for.” She brushed some hair out of his eyes. “It… It kinda sucks that we can’t do that for each other, though, huh?”

“Yeah,” Riku sighed. “You’re one of my best friends, and… don’t get me wrong, I feel safe around you, I just--”

“No, I get it,” Kairi said. “I feel safe around you, too. We’ve fought together, and I trust you more than almost anyone in the whole universe.”

“But I keep feeling like something’s going to happen,” Riku said.

“Yeah,” Kairi said. “Maybe going home for a bit’ll help.”

“We  _ could _ stay,” Riku said. “On the Islands, I mean. Not  _ all _ the time, of course, but we could live there again.”

“I like the castle,” Kairi said.

“We could always visit.”

“I like  _ living in _ the castle,” Kairi said. “With everyone. With you.”

Riku blinked. Not that there was anything  _ weird _ about that statement; they’d been friends for years, he wasn’t surprised she enjoyed his company. But the way she said it almost sounded like there was another layer behind what it meant, and he couldn’t for the life of him imagine what it was.

She shifted uneasily, as though she’d just let something slip.

“Kairi,” Riku said. “Are you alright?”

“Huh? Oh, I’m fine,” Kairi said. “I mean, I miss my parents, and everyone else from the Islands, but other than that.”

“Yeah, me too,” Riku said.

They went quiet for a few moments.

“Hey, you know what?” Riku said.

“Yeah?”

“We should take Sora with us! I bet he misses everyone, too!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riku: Wait, is Kairi hitting on me?  
> Riku:  
> Riku: No, that's impossible.
> 
> Anyways, that's the fic! The gang has officially each failed at seducing Riku at least once. I've got another one shot finished for this au and two other fics that are /not/ the visit to Destiny Islands in the works. I'm on a backstory kick. When I do write the visit to the Destiny Islands I'll probably slot it in right after this one though lol
> 
> I don't know when either of the other fics for this AU will be ready to start posting, but they're both vibing. We'll see. Perhaps when I've got less tabs open on my computer and it stops dying a little every time I open my browser dsafkjalfjbajdsfbaslj. in the meantime I have 38(?) fics published that are not in this series so if you're bored and like my vibes there's more content running around *self promos* *self promos* *self pro
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to add the playlist!! It's not very long but it's [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL86Rq43PH6qyeb09PPhrUx8JN_N3ZQ7Qo)!!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr @ roxasboxas and starburstdragon


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